U.S. stocks rise: S&P 500 at record

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks finished Thursday generally higher, with the S&P 500 index closing at a record level for the 50th time in the past 12 months. However, sharp declines in biotech stocks dragged the Nasdaq Composite into the red.

Investors focused on a number of economic reports and speeches from several Federal Reserve officials as well as remarks from the ECB President Mario Draghi, after the european central bank left the interest rates unchanged.

The Nasdaq Composite
COMP, -0.94%
reversed earlier gains and closed down 5.85 points, or 0.1%, at 4,352.13. The biotechnology and pharmaceuticals were the biggest losers on the index on Thursday. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF
IBB, -2.25%
dropped 2.7%.

“Jobless claims falling to a three-month low sets us up for tomorrow’s payrolls report. Unless it comes dramatically lower, investors will shrug it off as the weather factor is already baked into expectations,” said Chris Gaffney, senior market strategist at EverBank.

Before the opening bell, a report on weekly jobless claims showed a larger-than-expected drop in the week ended March 1. The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by 26,000 to 323,000 in the week ended March 1, marking the lowest level since late November, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Like other economic reports, claims have been distorted by a harsh winter. The four-week average that reduces the effects of weather and other unusual factors fell by 2,000 to 336,500, and it’s shown little change in 2014. The jobless claims data come ahead of Friday’s nonfarm-payrolls report, which is expected to show job gains of around 140,000 for February.

U.S. productivity growth in the fourth quarter was reduced to a 1.8% annual rate instead of 3.2% as originally reported, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. The revision matched economists’ forecasts.

Orders for goods produced in U.S. factories fell 0.7% in January, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected orders to fall by 0.6%.

Staples, Costco earnings disappoint

Staples SPLS, -2.49%
shares slumped 15% after the company posted declines in sales and traffic for its fiscal fourth quarter, disappointing Wall Street. It also forecast a sales decline in the first quarter of 2014 and said it would close 225 stores by the end of 2015.

Bloomberg

Costco’s quarterly profit slumps.

Costco
COST, -0.57%
dropped 2.8% after fiscal second-quarter profit declined 15%. The retailer said the first four-week period of the quarter made up the bulk of earnings underperformance. Same-store sales rose 4% in the U.S. and 5% internationally.

Children’s Place Retail Stores Inc.
PLCE, +0.08%
shares closed 7.4% after the retailer of children’s clothes posted a fall in earnings and sales year-over-year and said it sees first-quarter comparable sales off 2% to 4%.

Shares in Yum! Brands
YUM, -0.87%
rallied 3.3% after analysts at R.W. Baird raised the stock to outperform from neutral.

Among top performers on the S&P 500 were Valero Energy
VLO, -0.22%
and Marathon Petroleum Corp
MPC, -0.50%
-- up 5.2% and 3.8%, respectively. Both energy companies participated at Bank of America Merrill Lynch Refining Conference on Thursday.

Fed officials line up

Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart’s speech on the economic outlook at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. is due at 6 p.m. Eastern.

Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser told CNBC on Thursday that he’s “very worried” about potential for unintended consequences of the Fed’s quantitative easing program. He told CNBC that the U.S. “may never return” to its previous growth rates, and it could be “many, many years” before that happens.

Late Wednesday, Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said in a speech in Mexico City that he was concerned about “eye-popping levels” of some stock markets, and that the central bank must monitor signs carefully to be sure another bubble isn’t forming.

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